Who Stole The Crown?
by MissJenn
Summary: Arthur awoke one day to find that his priceless crown had gone missing. Who would have done such a thing, and what do they intend to do with it? Find out in this epic one-shot!


**Who Stole The Crown?**

The day had not gone so well for the prince. A headache had formulated within the far-right corner of his head, and he had increasingly begun to grow impatient as the day grew on; which, in turn, made his headache even worse. It did not also help that everyone seemed to have misplaced a good three-quarters of their brain, rendering them completely useless to him. Oh, and to top it all off, someone had stolen his crown.

When Arthur woke up, he thought that his day was going to be good. The weather had hit the perfect temperature, making it a beautiful day to go out and train. Why, it was such a nice day that, when Arthur had stretched and got out of bed, he was in a pretty good mood – that was, until he noticed something missing.

There, on the large, fluffy pillow that normally carried his crown, was nothing but a ring of emptiness.

He had scrambled over to the display, hoping that it was all a dream, and when he woke up his crown would be in its rightful place. But his hope had immediately shattered when he pressed his hand down onto where the crown should be, and instead of feeling the hard, golden crown he was so accustomed to, he felt the soft velvet material beneath his hand. Indeed, his crown was gone.

"Good morning, Sire," came a familiar voice as a tall, black-haired servant entered the room with a tray of fresh food in his hand.

"Merlin," Arthur began, still keeping his eyes locked on where his crown was supposed to be, "it's gone."

"What's gone?"

"My crown – my crown! It's not here!" He said, energetically pointing to the large pillow.

His manservant leaned in closer and peered at the empty space, "Huh, look at that."

"You haven't seen it?" asked Arthur, casting an accusing look to Merlin.

The servant shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not." He said, giving what he thought to be an innocent smile, but Arthur had perceived it to be his "up-to-no-good" smile.

"Well then, if you haven't touched it," he paused to cast a wary glance towards Merlin, "then someone must have stolen it."

With a determined face, Arthur hurriedly dressed himself and left to go hunt down his crown, dragging his manservant along with him.

From then on, Arthur had nothing but disappointment. Person after person had said they have no clue as to who could have taken the prince's priceless crown. Why, half of the people he asked couldn't have even describe his crown if their lives depended on it. Morgana, Gwen, Gaius, even Uther, all gave Arthur the same answer – the crown's disappearance was as big as a mystery to them as it was to him. This had frustrated Arthur immensely. No one knew where it was, and when he asked (or, more like commanded) for help, every one of them gave some half-hearted excuse as to why they could not spend the rest of their day searching for a missing crown. Merlin was the only one who had helped Arthur, but that was only because he was forced to.

By the time the sun had begun its decent beyond the horizon and the sky had turned orange, Arthur and Merlin were exhausted. The crown was nowhere to be found, and although Merlin had no trouble accepting that fact, Arthur refused to let it go. After some hours of Merlin complaining, the prince finally allowed his servant to head home, leaving him to search for the missing crown all by his lonesome. He searched high and low, far and wide, even in several chambers, yet his crown was not there. At last, when the sun had finally disappeared, Arthur gave up.

As he was heading back to his chambers, Arthur realized that he got absolutely nothing done today. In fact, he had neglected to give Merlin his long list of chores for the day. Deciding that he would go and inform him of his duties that were to be done, Arthur headed back to Merlin's chambers. When he arrived, he noticed the door was slightly ajar. "Merlin?" he called, poking his head into the room. No one was there, and yet several candles were still lit.

"Merlin? Gaius?" Arthur called out again. There was no reply.

He was just about to turn around and leave when he heard a distant voice from behind him. He turned around and saw that the door to Merlin's bedroom was also ajar. Arthur sneaked over to the open door and listened . . .

". . . oh, come now Merlin, don't be so modest!" Came that same familiar voice, although in a deeper, mocking tone, "Although I never, _ever_ admit it, mainly because I'm such a prat and I think I am better than everyone else, you are most certainly a much better person than me and deserve the highest of honors!"

Unable to bare it any longer, Arthur burst into the room. There, he found his manservant, standing in front of a mirror with a crown on his head and a shocked expression across his face.

"So _you're_ the thief who stole my crown!" The prince angrily shouted.

"Arthur!" Merlin looked up at the crown on his head and made a move to grab it, but Arthur had been quicker. He grabbed Merlin's arm and forcefully shoved it down, then snatched the crown off of the undeserving servant's head.

"I could have you hanged for stealing from the prince!" Arthur waved the crown in front of Merlin, threateningly.

"No! –I – I only – it was just – " stuttered the frightened Merlin.

Arthur brought a hand up and thumped Merlin on the back of his head, "You are a complete _idiot_! This crown is not for your personal fantasies, _Merlin _– no matter how wild they are."

Merlin hung his head in shame. "Yes, Sire."

"If I catch you stealing from me again I _will _severely punish you." Shoving the crown on top of his head, Arthur turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Besides," he said, "the crown looks better on me anyway."


End file.
